“If We Want a Beloved Community, We Must Stand for Justice”: The Cases of Notes and The Niteshop

The city of Rotterdam is known for its postcolonial and superdiverse nature and its ethnic and cultural diversity. However, despite this diversity, immigrant-hostile discourses and policies remain an issue that needs to be addressed. Various forms of activism are being deployed by, and for, marginalized groups to challenge the status quo. Community-based cultural spaces take on this task of activism as they provide a counter discourse to such hostility. The present study investigated how the community-based cultural spaces of Notes and The Niteshop contribute to a sense of belonging among youth of color in Rotterdam. This was done through an attempt to define the concept of community-based cultural spaces by drawing a comparison between established entities in society such as political movements, youth centers and the Third Place, and through the conceptualization of the notion of sense of belonging by means of three dimensions: ‘social connectedness’, ‘group identification’ and ‘identity formation and social identity’. The main research question answered was: ‘How do community-based cultural spaces contribute to a sense of belonging among youth of color in the city of Rotterdam?’. The qualitative method of semi-structured interviews was used as a means of data collection. The sample consisted of 6 participants of which 3 identified as female and 3 identified as male. The retrieved data was analyzed through inductive thematic analysis, on the basis of coding in the qualitative data analysis software of Atlas.ti. Results showed that four themes emerged from the data: ‘perception of community-based cultural spaces’, ‘shared understanding’, ‘making connections’ and ‘personal development’. One can conclude that community-based cultural spaces contribute to a sense of belonging among youth of color in Rotterdam in a way that they distinguish themselves from other established entities in society and foster norms, values and beliefs that uplift youth of color in a superdiverse, metropolitan context.